The Hand Behind the Mouse

[forevermickey]

I was watching the documentary The Hand Behind the Mouse last week. It said that UB Iwerks created Mickey. I am on my 2nd Walt Disney biography and it talks of Walt creating Mickey prior to this and bringing back the idea on his train ride home after hearing the news of Oswald being taken from him. Can anyone confirm or add information to this?

 

[zooey]

I'm pretty sure that Walt had the idea for a mouse character, like he had the idea for a rabbit character prior (Oswald) and Ub is the animator who took the idea and designed/animated it. So, Ub is co-creator of Mickey, in a sense. Walt then shaped the character through the shorts, so it's very much Walt's character, but Ub came up with the look of Mickey.

I'm a young Disney (some would say wannabe) historian, so I'm sure there is a more definitive version of this story, but that's how I understand it.
-zoo

 

[Gojira ゴジラ]

I was watching the documentary The Hand Behind the Mouse last week. It said that UB Iwerks created Mickey. I am on my 2nd Walt Disney biography and it talks of Walt creating Mickey prior to this and bringing back the idea on his train ride home after hearing the news of Oswald being taken from him. Can anyone confirm or add information to this?

Yeah I had the same impression from that documentary that Ub was the one who created Mickey. I'm pretty sure Walt made some contributions, but I'd like to know more about this.

 

[Clever Name]

I was watching the documentary The Hand Behind the Mouse last week. It said that UB Iwerks created Mickey. I am on my 2nd Walt Disney biography and it talks of Walt creating Mickey prior to this and bringing back the idea on his train ride home after hearing the news of Oswald being taken from him. Can anyone confirm or add information to this?

There is no question that Ub Iwerks created Mickey Mouse. The "train story" is a fictionalized account of the creation of Mickey. As a matter of fact, most stories you hear or read about Walt are nothing more than fiction created by his studio PR department. In reality Walt was a very ruthless businessman as were all the other studio heads during that time. Fairy tales about Walt abound. :wave:

Also, Oswald was not "taken" from Walt. That's just another story to make Walt appear to be the victim.

 

[zooey]

There is no question that Ub Iwerks created Mickey Mouse. The "train story" is a fictionalized account of the creation of Mickey. As a matter of fact, most stories you hear or read about Walt are nothing more than fiction created by his studio PR department. In reality Walt was a very ruthless businessman as were all the other studio heads during that time. Fairy tales about Walt abound. :wave:

Also, Oswald was not "taken" from Walt. That's just another story to make Walt appear to be the victim.

Then Roy must have REALLY been a ruthless businessman since Walt sucked as a businessman.

 

[Clever Name]

Then Roy must have REALLY been a ruthless businessman since Walt sucked as a businessman.

Walt was a salesman at heart and he was a very sharp and clever businessman as well. Roy and Walt played their roles very well but don't fall for all the myths. As I stated, much of the information about Walt was nothing more than pure public relations stories created for the press.

Walt was idealized like no other studio head. His image was important to sell the product. :wave:

 

[zooey]

Walt was a salesman at heart and he was a very sharp and clever businessman as well. Roy and Walt played their roles very well but don't fall for all the myths. As I stated, much of the information about Walt was nothing more than pure public relations stories created for the press.

Walt was idealized like no other studio head. His image was important to sell the product. :wave:

Thanks random poster! I'll be sure to forget everything I thought I knew about Walt Disney and replace it with your sourceless information. :wave:

 

[Walt Disney1955]

Walt was a salesman at heart and he was a very sharp and clever businessman as well. Roy and Walt played their roles very well but don't fall for all the myths. As I stated, much of the information about Walt was nothing more than pure public relations stories created for the press.

Walt was idealized like no other studio head. His image was important to sell the product. :wave:

Well, Disney puts Walt on a pedestal so high that it is impossible to reach. Dare I say that he is almost on a Christ-like pedestal? That isn't Walt's fault. He's been dead for 45 years. He was not a perfect man and was a tough man to work for which isn't always a bad thing considering the fact that because things were done HIS way we now have all the classic movies and Disneyland because of it (which of course also turned into WDW).

If Walt was a "yes man" then maybe Snow White isn't such a successful movie. If he was a pushover then maybe Epcot never happens. If he listened to some bleeding hearts............well, you get the picture. He did things his way and that may not have rubbed everyone the right way. No, that doesn't get leave you with a lot of happy employees but many of them also adored working for him.

I think at the end of the day Walt was human. He got angry behind closed doors I am sure like we all do. He put his pants on one leg at a time. But he had a wild imagination and a goal in life. People can trash talk him but is there a ride more peaceful in the world than Small World? That's straight out of Walt Disney's brain folks. He created an Empire and while no person can possibly be as perfect as he gets portrayed, I think in general the idea is that Walt was a good man.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Walt was a salesman at heart and he was a very sharp and clever businessman as well. Roy and Walt played their roles very well but don't fall for all the myths. As I stated, much of the information about Walt was nothing more than pure public relations stories created for the press.

Walt was idealized like no other studio head. His image was important to sell the product. :wave:

You and I have been through this before, on another thread. Your take on Walt is extremely cynical and largely false. The most credible books and biographies of him paint a very different picture than the one you present.

As for who created Mickey - most authorities agree that Walt came up with the idea of a mouse character to replace Oswald, and that his wife named him, but Ub Iwerks designed Mickey and animated most of the early shorts. Mickey's creation appears to be a collaborative effort, but it's interesting that Ub Iwerks always believed that it didn't matter who definitively created Mickey. It was what was DONE with Mickey that made him a success, and for that Walt deserves the lion's share of the credit.